Struggles and Triumphs: or, Forty Years' Recollections of P. T. BarnumBarnum, P. T. (Phineas Taylor)
General
Struggles and Triumphs: or, Forty Years' Recollections of P. T. Barnum
Barnum, P. T. (Phineas Taylor)
Barnum, P. T. (Phineas Taylor), 1810-1891; Circus owners -- United States -- Biography
On our third visit to Buckingham Palace, Leopold, King of the Belgians,
was also present. He was highly pleased, and asked a multitude of
questions. Queen Victoria desired the General to sing a song, and asked
him what song he preferred to sing.
“Yankee Doodle,” was the prompt reply.
This answer was as unexpected to me as it was to the royal party. When
the merriment it occasioned somewhat subsided, the Queen good-humoredly
remarked, “That is a very pretty song, General. Sing it if you please.”
The General complied, and soon afterwards we retired. I ought to add,
that after each of our three visits to Buckingham Palace, a very
handsome sum was sent to me, of course by the Queen’s command. This,
however, was the smallest part of the advantage derived from these
interviews, as will be at once apparent to all who consider the force of
Court example in England.
The British public were now fairly excited. Not to have seen General
Tom Thumb was decidedly unfashionable, and from March 20th until July
20th, the levees of the little General at Egyptian Hall were continually
crowded, the receipts averaging during the whole period about five
hundred dollars per day, and sometimes going considerably beyond that
sum. At the fashionable hour, between fifty and sixty carriages of the
nobility have been counted at one time standing in front of our
exhibition rooms in Piccadilly.
Portraits of the little General were published in all the pictorial
papers of the time. Polkas and quadrilles were named after him, and
songs were sung in his praise. He was an almost constant theme for the
London _Punch_, which served up the General and myself so daintily that
it no doubt added vastly to our receipts.
Besides his three public performances per day, the little General
attended from three to four private parties per week, for which we were
paid eight to ten guineas each. Frequently we would visit two parties in
the same evening, and the demand in that line was much greater than the
supply. The Queen Dowager Adelaide requested the General’s attendance at
Marlborough House one afternoon. He went in his court dress, consisting
of a richly embroidered brown silk-velvet coat and short breeches, white
satin vest with fancy-colored embroidery, white silk stockings and
pumps, wig, bag-wig, cocked hat, and a dress sword.
“Why, General,” said the Queen Dowager, “I think you look very smart
to-day.”
“I guess I do,” said the General complacently.
A large party of the nobility were present. The old Duke of Cambridge
offered the little General a pinch of snuff, which, he declined. The
General sang his songs, performed his dances, and cracked his jokes, to
the great amusement and delight of the distinguished circle of visitors.
“Dear little General,” said the kind-hearted Queen, taking him upon her
lap, “I see you have got no watch. Will you permit me to present you
with a watch and chain?”
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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